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How Guardiola compares with Ferguson and other English managerial greats

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Pep Guardiola won 17 trophies in his 10-year stay at Man City, but how does his record stand up in English football?

Pep Guardiola is leaving Manchester City after changing the face of English football over the last 10 years.

But how do his achievements at City compare with those of other great managers to have worked in England down the years, such as Alex Ferguson, Bob Paisley and Brian Clough?

The numbers and records nearly speak for themselves.

Guardiola always valued the domestic league higher than any other competition and he established an era of record-breaking dominance, leading City to six titles in his 10 seasons (60 percent) — including the unprecedented feat of four in a row (2021-24). Those six titles came in a seven-year span. He finished outside the top two on just two occasions.

As an overall percentage, only Paisley (66.67 percent) has a better title-winning record of modern-day managers. In his nine years at Liverpool (1974-83), he won the English league six times and was only outside the top two once.

Ferguson won the league title 13 times in 26 full seasons at United (1986-2013) but started out at a lower base, with the club being near the bottom of the standings and without a championship in 19 years when he took over. From the year of Ferguson’s first league crown (1993) to when he retired, United’s title-winning percentage was 61.9 percent – slightly higher than Guardiola’s but lower than Paisley’s.

For a club of City’s Abu Dhabi-fuelled resources, its record in the Champions League under Guardiola has been underwhelming — and he acknowledges that.

One title (2023), one more final (losing to Chelsea in 2021) and just one other semifinal appearance (2022) is a disappointing return for a team widely regarded as one of the best in Europe for most of his reign. Guardiola can, of course, point to two more Champions League titles in his four-year stint at Barcelona.

Ferguson won the Champions League twice with United, though even that was also regarded as a below-par return considering the team’s domestic dominance.

Of British managers, Clough and Paisley hold the most enviable records. Clough won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest in back-to-back years (1979 and 1980) — a remarkable feat at a provincial club — while Paisley won the competition three times (1977, 1978 and 1981) in five years.

Guardiola has won 17 major trophies in his decade at City, putting him only behind Ferguson in English football’s all-time list.

Ferguson captured 28 trophies, but had 16 years longer in the job than Guardiola.

Next comes Paisley, with 14 major trophies, followed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (10, of which a record seven were FA Cups), Clough (nine, across his spells at Derby and Forest) and former Man United manager Matt Busby (eight).

Under Guardiola, City racked up two of the top three points totals in English top-flight history — 100 in the 2017-18 season (Guardiola’s second in charge) and 98 in the 2018-19 season. In that seven-season span from 2018-2024, City set new standards in consistent excellence by collecting more than 90 points in four league campaigns — helped by having a top-class rival in Liverpool pushing it all the way.

That Liverpool team under Jurgen Klopp picked up 99 points in 2019-20, when breaking up City’s run of titles, and 97 points in 2018-19 when taking City to the final game of the season.

In the era when it was two points for a win (before 1981), Liverpool held the record for most points in a season with 68 in 1978-79. That equates to 98 points if there had been three points for a win, but Liverpool played 42 games instead of the current 38-game campaign.

Also notable was Chelsea’s haul of 95 points in 2004-05, the first season of Jose Mourinho’s first spell there. That was a record at the time.

Guardiola has never been shy to highlight the records he has set at City – and there have been many.

The only team in the nearly 140-year history of English football to win four top-flight league titles in a row. The first team to win 100 points in a top-flight season (2017-18). The most goals – 106 – scored in a single Premier League campaign (also 2017-18). The first team to win the domestic treble of the league, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season (2018-19).

Guardiola also emulated Ferguson in both winning the Premier League-FA Cup-Champions League treble (United in 1999, City in 2023) and wrapping up a Premier League title with five games still to play (United in 2001, City in 2018) — a record until it was broken by Liverpool in 2020 (seven games to play).

Something Guardiola never managed, however, was Wenger’s greatest feat of going an entire league season unbeaten (with Arsenal in 2004).

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/5/22/how-guardiola-compares-with-ferguson-and-other-english-managerial-greats?traffic_source=rss

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Hundreds protest Ireland’s ‘George Floyd moment’

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Hundreds protest Ireland’s ‘George Floyd moment’ after death of Congolese man

Hundreds have protested outside the store where a Congolese man in Dublin died after he was restrained by security guards, with video showing one guard kneeling on his neck or head. Protesters say this is Ireland’s ‘George Floyd moment’.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2026/5/22/hundreds-protest-irelands-george-floyd?traffic_source=rss

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Man Utd appoint Michael Carrick as permanent manager

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Carrick steps up from role as interim coach to replace Ruben Amorim on a permanent basis as Manchester United manager.

Michael Carrick never chased the ⁠spotlight as a player, and he has ⁠not suddenly sought it out as a manager.

In a season when Manchester United needed clarity, calm and conviction, it is Carrick – understated, deeply respected and quietly authoritative – who has come to embody all three.

What has followed since his January appointment as interim manager has been more than a managerial bounce, it has ⁠been a transformation. United’s hierarchy took note, awarding him the permanent manager job on Friday.

When Carrick stepped into the role after Ruben Amorim’s sacking, United were drifting, their campaign defined as much by uncertainty as by underachievement.

Within months, they were reborn, climbing to the brink of a third-place Premier League finish and sealing a return to the Champions League with games to spare.

Results ⁠alone tell only part of the story, though they are striking enough. Carrick has won 11 of his 16 league matches in charge, losing only twice, and his team accumulated more league points than any other side during that spell.

United beat Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, rediscovering a competitive edge that had been sorely absent.

“We had two tough fixtures when Michael came in [against Arsenal and City] and I think everyone was probably looking at them thinking ‘Oh no’,” said United centre back Harry Maguire.

“We managed to get six points and from then on everyone has believed in it and ‌we’ve got confidence.”

For a side who finished 15th the season before, the turnaround has felt dramatic rather than incremental.

Yet those inside Old Trafford point to something deeper. Carrick has not only improved performances, he has reset the environment.

Dressing-room morale stabilised and a sense of purpose returned to a squad that had begun to look fractured.

Kobbie Mainoo, a finalist for the Premier League’s Young Player of the Season award, praised Carrick for “all the confidence he gives all the players. You want to follow him and fight for him and die for him on the pitch.”

Amorim had a blind spot where the young midfielder was concerned, but Mainoo’s performances these past few months have been one of the clearest signs of United’s revival under Carrick.

He restored Mainoo to a central role and instilled in him the trust to play with freedom and authority, a shift reflected in his poise and creativity in big moments, including key contributions in wins that secured Champions League qualification.

Mainoo was named to Thomas Tuchel’s England World Cup squad on Friday.

Players have ⁠spoken of clarity, communication, and of a manager who connects rather than commands.

Maguire, a central figure in the revival, summed up Carrick’s demeanour simply.

“He has been excellent with players, communicates really well,” he said.

Bruno Fernandes, who won the FWA Men’s Footballer of the Year award, has also praised Carrick.

“I’ve always said that Carrick could be a great manager,” Fernandes said recently. “When, as a player, you can see and think about the game like him, you can ⁠also do it from the bench.

“Of course, it’s different, but when you have that calmness, that intelligence, you tell yourself there’s potential. He’s done a fantastic job since he arrived.”

That ability to connect is rooted in Carrick’s personality. He is not a grand or demonstrative figure, but rather ⁠one who influences through calmness, intelligence and empathy.

As a player, he was the midfield metronome, dictating tempo without drama. As ⁠a coach, those traits now define his touchline presence.

And his authority comes from within. Few understand United’s identity better. A five-time Premier League champion during his playing career at Old Trafford, the 44-year-old knows both the expectations and the pressures of the role.

That knowledge has informed his decisions. He reverted to a traditional back four after Amorim preferred three at the back, and was harshly criticised for his refusal to be flexible.

He has also restored key players such ‌as Fernandes to their more natural positions. Amorim played the Portugal international in a deeper role as one of two central midfielders, while Carrick has pushed him into an advanced position.

Fernandes has flourished again at the heart of the side in a season where he tied the league’s record for assists in a season with one game remaining.

The noise that once surrounded the club ‌has ‌also quietened, replaced by a sense of excellence rarely experienced in recent years.

That is perhaps Carrick’s most significant achievement. He has not promised revolution, but he has delivered stability – and in doing so laid the foundation for something more sustainable.

For Carrick, the journey carries a certain symmetry.

A player who spent more than a decade orchestrating United’s midfield has been handed the baton to guide their future.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/5/22/man-utd-appoint-michael-carrick-as-permanent-manager?traffic_source=rss

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Gang violence kills at least 25 in Honduras

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The attacks by gunmen come as the government continues a drive to crack down on organised crime.

Gunmen have killed at least 25 people, including six police officers, in attacks across Honduras.

The attacks marked Thursday as one of the most violent days the country has seen in recent years. They came despite ongoing efforts by the government to rein in organised crime and violence.

Nineteen people were killed as gunmen raided a palm plantation in the municipality of Trujillo in the north of the country.

A leader of one rural group told the AFP news agency that those killed were employees of an armed group controlling a plantation.

However, local media indicated that armed suspects had fired indiscriminately on labourers. They reported that the oldest victim was 61.

Photos showed bodies, some wearing thick rubber boots for work, strewn on the ground outside.

Meanwhile, in the west near the Guatemalan border, six police officers were killed in another shooting in the municipality of Omoa.

Police report that the officers had travelled to the area as part of an operation to quash gang activity. However, they were ambushed.

After the two attacks, the National Police issued a statement, saying it “will proceed immediately with a direct intervention in the affected areas”.

“The state will act firmly to capture those responsible, protect vulnerable communities and guarantee comprehensive justice for all affected victims,” it added.

Honduras is struggling to crack down on gang violence. Until January, many parts of the country were under a state of emergency launched in 2022.

That emergency decree ended, however, with the inauguration of right-wing President Nasry “Tito” Asfura, a close ally of United States President Donald Trump, who has prioritised a hardline approach to security in Latin America.

The attacks will, therefore, raise concerns over security, but also civil liberties.

Laws passed earlier this week will allow authorities to designate gangs and drug cartels as terrorist groups. A new anti-organised crime unit has also been created.

The Trujillo shooting occurred near the Aguan River Valley, where armed groups, involved in narcotrafficking and palm oil extraction, have been fighting over land for decades.

Trujillo police chief Carlos Rojas told local media that the groups occupy and illegally exploit several large African palm plantations, using money from the crops to obtain weapons.

Local farmer groups, however, accuse transnational agribusiness corporations of sponsoring the criminal groups to carry out land occupations and prevent residents from reclaiming disputed lands.

According to Reuters, more than 150 people in the area have been killed or disappeared, with environmental and land rights activists a particular target.

Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for such activists. Earlier this month, police arrested several individuals, including a mayor, for plotting the assassination of a prominent environmental campaigner in 2024.

📰 மூல செய்தி (Source): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/22/gang-violence-kills-at-least-25-in-honduras?traffic_source=rss

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